San Onofre Beach Camp Site

You just gotta love it here. We have been several times… but never know what the beach will look like. One time it was beautiful and pristine, six months later it was all rocks and we could hardly walk. Our camper is great… 1998 Roadtrek, BUT we do have to use the facilities. They are clean and in working order. Prefer this spot over Del Mar Beach in Camp Pendleton – less noise. Firepits, picnic tables and straight up BEACH FRONT. Where else can you get beach front for $ 35 a night. The only really freaky thing is San Clemente Nuclear Power Plant… if you walk south you see it, and very creepy. We did like to mingle with the surfers at the San Onofre State Beach… if you are AD or DOD CIV – highly recommend.

Overall a solid campsite. We reserved our spot online and when we got there we just told them our name to get in. Its set up parking lot style, so the spots are a little tight. The bathrooms were surprisingly clean. The one bad thing is the long walk to a rocky beach.

We had a great time. The cottages are nice and clean. Yes there is a train track, yes you hear the trains go by and yes there are monster rocks on the shoreline. But we enjoyed our stay very much. There are showers and bathrooms next to the beach and a playground. We brought our own grill but there are charcoal grill available.

We love beach camping in the summer! But this campground was horrible! For starters, we did not have a beach front rv site. Tried but they just didn’t have any availability. Ours was 3^rd row. And though we could still hear the ocean during the quiet moments we rarely had any quiet moments. They fail to mention that there’s a train track right behind you and the trains come by approx. every 20 to 30 mins from 630am ish til after 10pm. The beach was clean but the shoreline was covered with rocks. Great for surfing but if you want to wade or have kids splash in the water forget about it! They couldn’t walk over the 50 ft of rock. The worst part of our weekend trip was the neighbors. The campers on each side of us were apart of group of maybe 30 spread through the campground. When night time came they all congregated at our neighbors rv. They drank, played music and were loud as hell they had no respect for anyone else camping there. I tried looking for a number to a host manager to handle the situation but could find out. We asked many times for them to keep it down. The next day I reported them to the front office. The women there were nice and apologetic. But I guess the party never got the message. Cause the next night they were worse. This time their guest parked cars all around our site and others, directly infront of us while we sat at our fire pit. The party continued past midnight. Every time the night manager would drive by, they’d lower the music and turn it up once he was out of site. RUINED our whole trip. Wasn’t relaxing and didn’t get any sleep. I wouldn’t go back here even if they paid me!!!

I was meaning to review the San Onofre State Beach, but close enough. Great break here. If you enjoy a slow, consistent, easy break then this place is it. Reminds me a lot like Tourmaline. I’m not sure about other peoples encounters, but I find people here are very easy going and welcoming. As long as you’re putting out positive vibes, being courteous, and focus on enjoying yourself you’ll be good to go. Like all places this place gets zoo’d out with tons of people. Don’t let that bother you tho enjoy yourself.

what the… You would think this beach would be cleaner! Bottles and trash every where… those dod employees ‘gotta get off facebook and walk/​clean the beach.
tssk tssk

The San Onofre Recreation Beach Campground at Camp Pendleton is only open to Active, National Guard, Reservists, Retired, 100% DAV, DoD civilians, and their guests. During the summer months, active duty stationed on a Marine Corps installation may reserve 12 weeks in advance. All other active duty and retired may reserve 10 weeks in advance. Reserve and DoD employees and DoD retired may reserve 9 weeks in advance.
They have day use, camper sites, cottages (small mobile home trailers) and ten camping.
The beach here is nice only because it is not crowded like the San Onofre State Beach Campground to the south and Doheny State Beach Campground to the north. But the beach is plagued with the same rocks that are present at the San Onofre State Campground. Something eerie when you are sitting there listening to the sound of the waves crashing on the beach and as the waters recede you hear the rumbling of the loose rocks. Those loose rocks are awaiting your toes, feet and ankles as you try to get beyond the surfline.
As for the bathrooms and facilities, gross. The bathrooms are generally clogged, particularly on the men’s side. I think that they are even worse than the bathrooms in the state campgrounds.